county · Germany and Central Europe
County of Oettingen
Origins
Count Ludwig of Oettingen appears around 1147, holding lands in the Ries, a fertile meteorite crater basin in Swabia. The counts were relatives of the Staufer and expanded their territory through purchases and offices, making it one of the larger counties in Swabia.
Rule and society
The counts ruled villages and small towns around Oettingen, Wallerstein and Harburg, but the imperial city of Nördlingen in the middle of the Ries stayed outside their control. The family later divided into several lines, and the Reformation split them by confession.
Decline and legacy
In 1522 the county was divided between Oettingen-Oettingen, which turned Protestant, and Catholic Oettingen-Wallerstein. Later principalities, they were mediatised in 1806 and became part of Bavaria. The princes of Oettingen-Wallerstein still live at Harburg and Wallerstein.
Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.
Lineage
On the connections map
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- County of Oettingen was part of Holy Roman Empire1147 CE – 1522 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). County of Oettingen. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-oettingen
- MLA
- “County of Oettingen.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-oettingen. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “County of Oettingen.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-oettingen.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘County of Oettingen’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-oettingen (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻